{"id":110032,"date":"2020-12-23T17:46:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T00:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110032"},"modified":"2020-12-23T17:46:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T00:46:41","slug":"can-we-afford-elections-and-provincial-councils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/23\/can-we-afford-elections-and-provincial-councils\/","title":{"rendered":"Can we afford Elections and Provincial Councils?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Government, it is reported, is thinking of holding PC elections in April next year. It is improbable that either the Covid or the economy would be in a satisfactory situation by April next year to allow elections for an institution that is largely non-essential.\u00a0 Our economy has recorded negative growth for the first two quarters and is just beginning to turn around. Our foreign debts amount to mind-boggling sums. People are clamouring for sustenance as their livelihood and daily-paid jobs are totally disrupted. Covid-19 is spreading and will stay for some more time affecting both health and economy. Sri Lanka may not get a vaccine for at least another year for adequate vaccination of its people. Countries which are mass-producing vaccines need them for their own use or have pledged them to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are PC elections so important that the government has\nto take an enormous risk and hold them at this juncture ?  The general election was held successfully\nwhen the Covid was under better control as that election was crucial for the\nmanagement of the country’s affairs. Now the Covid is not under control and the\nprovincial councils are not essential for the people. In fact people consider\nthem an encumbrance and a huge burden they are called upon to carry quite\nunnecessarily. People voted for this government enmasse giving a 2\/3rd<\/sup>\nmajority, considered impossible in a PR electoral system, hoping that all these\nburdens and threats would be removed for ever. They will turn against this\ngovernment enmasse if these problems are made to continue unabated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government is already under fire for mismanaging\nCovid and allowing the second wave to arise. Some say it was the election campaign\nin August that may have caused the second Covid wave. If the Government holds\nthe PC election while the Covid is spreading chances are high that the\nGovernment may lose control of the pandemic. Our health system would be\noverburdened and will not be able to control the death rate at present level of\n7 per million. We may have to face a situation similar to what is seen in\nIndia. The economic downturn may become worse due to the spreading Covid and\nthe impact on the poor people would be worse than in India. Government will\nearn an indelible black mark which could pave its downfall.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An election under Covid conditions may cost about Rs\n8-10 billion. The general election in August 2020 cost about Rs.10 billion. Can\nwe afford this while the poor are starving ? \nThis money could be used for poverty alleviation and food assistance\nwhich is the need of the hour. The poor had already started to get on to the\nstreet to clamour for means of living. And if they see the Government holding\nan election, unnecessary in their eyes at this time,  they may even start food riots. Even after\nthe Covid is eventually brought under control its effect on the economy will\nremain for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several\nProvinces have existed without their Councils with no breakdown of essential\nservices to the people for more than one year due to elections not being held.\nThough it is argued that not holding elections on time is a denial of\ndemocratic rights not holding elections for redundant institutions which in\nfact are a white elephant and a burden on the tax paying poor people could be\nconsidered a blessing in disguise. PCs were created as a solution to the so\ncalled ethnic Tamil problem but the silence of Tamil politicians on the issue\nof delay in elections to the Northern PC is deafening to say the least. If they\ncan do without their PC there cannot be an ethnic problem of enormous magnitude\nwhich necessitated  the introduction by\nforce of the 13th A by India. People of this country did not ask for the 13th\nA, it was forced on us by a hegemonic imperialist India partly to pacify Tamil\nNadu politicians, and to prevent other interested global powers getting into\nthe fray for geopolitical reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Provincial Councils do not serve any useful\npurpose. One cannot see a single project or beneficial outcome that has\nresulted from PC activity anywhere in the country. Instead it is another\nbureaucratic barrier to the people that increase the red tape, inconvenience,\nwaste of time, money and energy of the people. Further it has increased the number\nof corrupt politicians that people have to bribe to get any official work done.\nThe devolution of power via these PCs is totally redundant as shown by the\ninability of the Northern PC, which was formed for the very purpose of solving\nthe Tamil problem, to make use of the opportunity to serve the people. The work\ndone by these PCs could easily be carried out by the GA and the kachcheri\nsystem we had previously without the involvement of politicians. Similarly\nadministrative power could be devolved to the North through the local\ngovernment institutions. The 13th<\/sup> A with its Land and Police powers\nhangs over us like a Sword of Damocles which could eventually pave the way for\na separate state. Thus the 13th<\/sup> A and its offspring the provincial\ncouncils could be done away with bringing great benefit to the people including\nTamils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One may ask what about the Tamil problem. Firstly this\nhas not been clearly explained. As far as any fair minded person could see\nTamils in Sri Lanka are better off than Tamils in India. In Tamil Nadu for\ninstance, Tamils cannot represent a case in courts in the Tamil language, leave\nalone anywhere else in India, where as Tamils in Sri Lanka could do so anywhere\nin the country. Tamils in the North and the East have no issues that other\ncommunities do not have regarding the use of language, education, employment,\neconomy, household income, culture, sports etc. The house hold income in\nVavuniya is better than that in Kandy, so are the roads. They have excelled in\neducation. They have no special problems that arise due to their ethnicity. If\nTamils are  discriminated they would not\nbe able to achieve what they have. As for their political rights, these could\neasily be addressed at the centre of political power instead of at the\nperiphery as the country is very small. Tamil representation at the centre\nshould be made more meaningful particularly on matters related to minorities.\nThe money saved by the removal of the \nPCs and 13th<\/sup> A  could\nbe used for the benefit of everybody. Tamils and other minorities should be\nmade to develop a sense of belonging in the country of their berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Government, it is reported, is thinking of holding PC elections in April next year. It is improbable that either the Covid or the economy would be in a satisfactory situation by April next year to allow elections for an institution that is largely non-essential.\u00a0 Our economy has recorded negative growth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-n-a-de-s-amaratunga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}